A Prince Edward County environmental group is crying foul over the way a meeting about the expansion of Quinte’s Isle Campark was run on April 14.
The Friends of South Shore (FOSS), a community group based in the county focused on “keeping Prince Edward County’s South Shore natural, rural, wild, and free for all to wander and discover” sent and publicly released a letter to council Saturday alleging a number of procedural issues.
The five page letter explains that despite the overwhelming negative public opinion of the expansion plans of Quinte’s Isle Campark, council dismissed the 26 people who provided public comment on the matter at the meeting and proceeded without consideration.
Further, the letter alleges that council treated members of the public, who signed up to provide comment, unfairly by allowing the lawyer who represents Fourward Holdings, the applicant and owners of Quinte’s Isle, to spend over a half hour rebutting specifically named deputants in a “disrespectful and dismissive courtroom style of rebuttal.”
Twenty-six members of the public registered in advance to comment and provided their materials for council beforehand. FOSS said that when the lawyer for the applicant was allowed to speak for 30 minutes uninterrupted, it was unfair to those who had registered in advance.
The community group is requesting that council begin “a complete overhaul of the public engagement process” in the county as well as an apology from the mayor and councillors for the “unparliamentary and dismissive tone expressed towards all members of the public.”
Quinte News has reached out to the municipality for comment.
To see the full letter from the Friends of South Shore click here.
